New Britain was settled in 1687 and was incorporated as a parish under the name New Britain Society in 1754. Chartered in 1850 as a township and in 1871 as a city, New Britain was separated from the nearby town of Berlin, Connecticut. A consolidation charter was adopted in 1905. During the early part of the 20th century, New Britain was known as the "Hardware Capital of the World," as well as "Hardware City." Major manufacturers, such as Stanley WorksThe Stanley Works and Corbin Locks, were headquartered in the city. In 1843 Frederick Trent Stanley established Stanley's Bolt Manufactory in New Britain to make door bolts and other wrought-iron hardware. In 1857 his cousin Henry Stanley (industrialist)Henry Stanley and founded The Stanley Rule and Level Company in the city. Planes invented by Leonard Bailey and manufctured by the Stanley Rule and Level Company, known as "Stanley/Bailey" planes, were prized by woodworkers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and remain popular among wood craftsmen today. The two companies merged in 1920, and the Stanley Rule and Level Company became the Hand Tools Division of Stanley Works. In the history of the clothes hanger, this city ranks prominently as the place where today's most used hanger, the wire hanger, was inspired by a coat hook that was invented in 1869 by O. A. North of New Britain, Connecticut. However, no monuments to either North or the wire hanger have been erected within the city limits (or the Stanley/Bailey plane, for that matter). New Britain was also the home of some of the first racquetball play. Shortly after Greenwich, Connecticut tennis pro Joseph Sobek invented the game, Douglas Boyea, the New Britain YMCA's physical director, recognized the value of the new sport, and promoted the game at the Y on Court Street. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Britain%2C_Connecticut